The Three Vehicles Of Buddhism

Buddhist Traditions: the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana

The Buddhist teachings are described as consisting of 84,000 different types of presentation, which are all varying remedies to varying types of mental afflictions. If all of these are summed up, they consist of what are called the three vehicles. The three vehicles can also be summed up further as just two.

The Two Main Vehicles of Buddhism

The two vehicles consist of what Is called the Hinayana (the lesser or the basic vehicle) and the Mahayana (the great vehicle). There is a fairly common misunderstanding of the term Hinayana, the lesser vehicle. The term "lesser" (actually "little") does not mean "inferior." People often hearing the term think this must be an inferior form of Buddhism so obviously it won't be of any help and I'd better go for the better kind. It is not the case that the result of it is in any way inferior or that the teachings are in any way inferior. The term "little" or "lesser" is comparative only in the sense of the gradation of progress through the path. It's the first vehicle that is practiced, like entering the first grade. It is the basic vehicle or the fundamental vehicle, and it is called lower in the same way that one would call the foundation of a house lower than the walls or the roof. But just as the first thing that has to be established if one wants to build a house is the foundation, in the same way, the Hinayana is the only possible foundation for the Mahayana and Vajrayana presentations and practices. It may be more helpful to think of it as the basic vehicle rather than as the lower or lesser vehicle.

The Hinayana

What the Buddha taught in the basic vehicle or the Hinayana is fundamentally the cause and result of samsara and the cause and result of nirvana. He showed that the cause of samsara is the false imputation of a truly existent self and the resultant three poisons or the three root mental afflictions and that the result of the presence of this imputation of the self and the mental affliction is all the varying sufferings of samsara, the pain and fear of the six realms. He also presented the Cause of nirvana, the cause of liberation from this suffering, which is the method one uses to free oneself from this, the path, which consists of the application of the four noble truths and the twelve links of interdependence. And he taught the result of this path which is the cessation of suffering or the transcendence of misery, nirvana. This presentation is essentially the presentation of the four noble truths, two of which present the cause and result of samsara, and the latter two which present the cause and result of nirvana. All the Hinayana teachings can basically be included in the four noble truths.

The main practice in the Hinayana is the discipline of renunciation. This depends entirely upon the recognition that samsara is suffering and the resultant disgust. If you want to have genuine renunciation, you must recognize the presence and pervasiveness of suffering. Obviously, if you do not recognize the presence of suffering, you will have no reason to earnestly seek liberation. So the basic practice first of all is to recognize the nature of samsara to be the three sufferings, which produces genuine renunciation. It is for this reason that the Buddha's first teaching, the first truth presented among the four noble truths, is a clear presentation of the presence of suffering.Generally speaking, we all know that there's lots of suffering in samsara, but it's hard sometimes to recognize appearances of pleasure as being essentially suffering as well. As I said yesterday, essentially suffering is fear. Even when we are enjoying something, experiencing pleasure or happiness, we are filled with fear because when we possess or enjoy something pleasurable, we fear losing it. If we have a position or wealth, we live in fear of losing it. It doesn't matter how much you have or how little you have, fear is fundamentally the same. If you are the ruler of a country, you fear losing that position, if you are a homeless beggar on the street, you fear losing that position. The fear of suffering, the fear not only of losing what you enjoy, but of encountering what you especially do not enjoy, is the same for a king or for a beggar. So if you clearly understand the pervasiveness of fear, then you understand how the basic nature of samsara is suffering.If therefore you understand the truth of suffering (the first noble truth) and you recognize the presence of suffering, you will have genuine renunciation. This is basically the recognition that wherever you are born, whatever your circumstances are, in samsara, it's basically an experience of suffering. This renunciation is an absolutely necessary basis as well for the practice of the Mahayana, the great vehicle. Without genuine renunciation, genuine compassion is impossible. Compassion fundamentally consists of recognizing the suffering of others and as a result generating the intense desire that they be free from that suffering. If you do not see your own suffering and thereby do not recognize the pervasiveness of suffering, it is impossible for you to see or to empathize with the suffering of others. So if you do not have some degree of genuine renunciation, you cannot have a genuine or stable compassion. For that reason, renunciation is very important for Mahayana practice. Genuine renunciation leads to genuine compassion, which becomes the genuine aspiration to bring all beings to full awakening.

So the main practice in the Hinayana is the cultivation of renunciation and the study of the four noble truths, leading to one's individual liberation.

The Mahayana and Special Mahayana (Vajrayana)

Index of Teachings